MENIFEE: More bus service on the horizon for Menifee students

Menifee district considers partial reversal of February cuts

By CATHY REDFERN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, June 4, 2008 9:46 PM PDT ∞

MENIFEE ---- There could be more bus service for Menifee elementary school students than previously planned for the upcoming school year beginning next month, district board members indicated Wednesday.

The specifics of that service remain to be worked out, but it will be less than what was offered this year and more than what the board had planned to offer when it made a series of budget cuts in February for the coming year.

Details of the revised busing plan and an official vote by the Menifee Union School District board are expected Tuesday. Meanwhile, district administrators will be scrambling to pencil out the numbers as the board faces a June 30 deadline for adopting a budget for the year starting July 1.

The decision to reinstate some busing for younger students came at the end of Wednesday's special, hastily called meeting.

District bus service for elementary school students was severely cut in February, when the board wielded the budget axe after getting word that the state would not be sending as much money as the district had hoped.

The cut eliminated busing for all elementary school students except special needs children and those students displaced by the money-saving closure of Menifee Elementary School for the 2008-09 school year.

The budget picture brightened a bit last month, with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger saying he planned to give schools more funding.

District administrators were quick Wednesday to caution board members against using that expected cushion, but the board determined that they had promised families they would reinstate busing if they could, and that they think they now can.

While the district is in a better position now than it appeared to be in February, it is still fiscally hurting because new enrollment figures show a probable decline of 3 percent next year and administrators had projected it would increase by 2 percent, Assistant Superintendent Dan Wood said.

In the recent past, enrollment had grown by as much as 14 percent.

Wood also said he overestimated the amount the February busing cut would save by about $400,000.

The planned reinstated bus service will mean the district must quickly come up with about $160,000 in next year's proposed budget, Wood said. Where that money might come from will be presented to the board Tuesday, he added.

Still, it's probable that less elementary school students will qualify for the bus service compared to what has been offered through this year, as the district's staff has proposed increasing the so-called "walking distance" for some students to 2 miles from 1.25 miles, among other revisions. Those suggested modifications are meant to avoid cuts to other services, Wood said.

A series of suggestions from 17 of the district's 26 bus drivers, who met with district representatives Friday, also will be studied at Tuesday 's 4 p.m. meeting.

Those suggestions include requiring students to have a pass before they can hop on the bus, and perhaps putting their photographs on passes so they cannot improperly share them with other children.

For information, call the district at (951) 672-1851.

Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or e-mail credfern@californian.com.